Related papers: Extending homeomorphisms from punctured surfaces t…

We produce two separate algebraic descriptions of the isomorphism classes of the solvable subgroups of the group PLo(I) of piecewise-linear orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of the unit interval under the operation of composition, and…

Let $S$ be an orientable, connected surface with infinitely-generated fundamental group. The main theorem states that if the genus of $S$ is finite and at least 4, then the isomorphism type of the pure mapping class group associated to $S$,…

We construct a splitting of the cohomology of configuration spaces of points on a smooth proper variety with a multiplicative Chow--K\"unneth decomposition. Applied to hyperelliptic curves, this shows that the hyperelliptic Torelli group…

In this paper we study smooth orientation-preserving free actions of the cyclic group $\mathbb Z/m$ on a class of $(n-1)$-connected $2n$-manifolds, $\sharp g (S^n \times S^n)\sharp \Sigma$, where $\Sigma$ is a homotopy $2n$-sphere. When…

We work in the smooth category. Let $N$ be a closed connected orientable 4-manifold with torsion free $H_1$, where $H_q := H_q(N; \mathbb Z)$. Our main result is a readily calculable classification of embeddings $N\to\mathbb R^7$ up to…

Let $N_g$ be a closed non-orientable surface of genus $g\geq 3$. Let $\operatorname{Homeo}_0(N_g,\mu)$ be the identity component of the group of measure-preserving homeomorphisms of $N_g$. In this work we prove that the third bounded…

We prove various reconstruction theorems about open subsets of normed spaces. E.g. if the uniformly continuous homeomorphism groups of two such sets are isomorphic, then this isomorphism is induced by a uniformly continuous homeomorphism…

For M_r = #_r(S^p \times S^p), p=3, 7, we calculate the group of isotopy classes of orientation preserving diffeomorphisms of $M_r$ modulo isotopy classes with representatives which are the identity outside a 2p-disc and also the group of…

Let f, g be two homotopic smooth embeddings of a closed surface in a closed oriented 5-dimensional manifold. We show that if f admits a common algebraic dual 3-sphere, or if the fundamental group of the ambient space is trivial, then f and…

Let M be a closed simply connected n-manifold of positive sectional curvature. We determine its homeomorphism or homotopic type if M also admits an isometric elementary p-group action of large rank. Our main results are: There exists a…

For a closed connected manifold N, we establish the existence of geometric structures on various subgroups of the contactomorphism group of the standard contact jet space J^1N, as well as on the group of contactomorphisms of the standard…

Let $g\geq3$ and $n\geq0$, and let ${\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}$ be the mapping class group of a surface of genus $g$ with $n$ boundary components. We prove that ${\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}$ contains a unique subgroup of index $2^{g-1}(2^{g}-1)$ up to…

A generalized-homology bordism-theory is constructed, such that for certain manifold homotopy stratified sets (MHSS; Quinn-spaces) homeomorphism-invariant geometric fundamental-classes exist. The construction combines three ideas: Firstly,…

This article deals with a number of topics which are, somewhat surprisingly, related. Firstly, the fundamental theorem of skew invariant theory for the symplectic group giving the generators and relations of symplectic invariants is…

Let \Sigma be a compact orientable surface with genus g and n boundary components B = (B_1,..., B_n). Let c = (c_1,...,c_n) in [-2,2]^n. Then the mapping class group MCG of \Sigma acts on the relative SU(2)-character variety X_c :=…

We prove structure theorems for the moduli stack of elliptic curves equipped with $G$-structures, where $G$ is a finite 2-generated metabelian group. In particular, we show that if $G$ has exponent $e$, then there is a subgroup $H\le…

We show that a finite volume deformation retract $\mathcal{T}_{\varepsilon_t}^{-}(\mathcal{N}_g)/\mathrm{MCG}(\mathcal{N}_g)$ of the moduli space $\mathcal{M}(\mathcal{N}_g)$ of non-orientable surfaces $\mathcal{N}_g$ behaves like the…

When $S$ is a closed, orientable surface with genus $g(S) \geq 2$, we show that the automorphism group of the compression body graph $\mathcal{CB}(S)$ is the mapping class group. Here, vertices are compression bodies with exterior boundary…

Associated to every closed, embedded submanifold $N$ of a connected Riemannian manifold $M$, there is the distance function $d_N$ which measures the distance of a point in $M$ from $N$. We analyze the square of this function and show that…

A topology is defined on the mapping class group of a compact connected orientable surface. It is shown that a notion of "genericity" on subsets of the mapping class group arises from this definition. Many plausible results follow from this…